Taubman

Christie Brinkley and real estate developer Ricky Taubman plan to be married today atop Telluride Ski Mountain in Colorado, reportedly in the presence of 150 guests and choirs flown in for the event. The supermodel and Taubman were in a serious helicopter crash near Telluride in April. Brinkley's divorce from singer Billy Joel was final in August. Their daughter, Alexa Ray, 8, and Taubman's son, Wyatt, also 8, will be at the wedding.

Lola Taubman sat silently between her parents in the crowded boxcar. They had been cramped on the train for days without food or water. The dignity of a toilet was reduced to a metal bucket. Taubman's mother, Zsenka Goldstein, didn't say a word for the entire journey. Miksa, her father, held her tightly and whispered, "They will never be able to take away your education." His words would ring through her ears at the worst moments, when she was exhausted, sick, starving, when she thought she wouldn't live another day. They could take her clothes, her health.

Simon Property Group Inc. on Wednesday withdrew its hostile $1.7 billion takeover bid for rival shopping mall developer Taubman Centers Inc. The announcement by Simon and its partner Westfield America Inc. came a day after Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation changing Michigan's takeover law. The change is aimed at helping Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman fend off the takeover effort. Simon began the takeover effort last November. Both Simon and Taubman have operations in Central Florida.

Simon Property Group Inc. on Wednesday withdrew its hostile $1.7 billion takeover bid for rival shopping mall developer Taubman Centers Inc. The announcement by Simon and its partner Westfield America Inc. came a day after Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation changing Michigan's takeover law. The change is aimed at helping Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman fend off the takeover effort. Simon began the takeover effort last November. Both Simon and Taubman have operations in Central Florida.

The economy remains uncertain and the retail industry is bracing for a potentially slow holiday season. Maybe it's not the best time for a company to lay $4 billion on the table to acquire a rival. But mall giant Simon Property Group Inc. thinks it is. In Simon's view, the target of its recent hostile takeover bid -- Taubman Centers Inc. -- is prime for picking. Michigan-based Taubman has lost millions of dollars and its stock has languished since disgraced founder Alfred Taubman left the company last year to face a federal prison term for price-fixing as head of Sotheby's auction house.

Lola Taubman will never forget the night she saw her parents for the last time.She had spent three agonizing days standing with them and the rest of her family inside a crowded boxcar. There was no food on board, no water, no toilets.One woman gave birth; another went berserk. No one knew the destination or who would meet them when they arrived.One cold April night 53 years ago, the train pulled into a place called Auschwitz, and a man named Joseph Mengele sent the elder Taubmans to their deaths with a wave of his hand.

Mall magnate Mel Simon is living large on a wave of shopping mall real estate buyouts. Meanwhile, his longtime rival Alfred Taubman sits in a federal prison, convicted of price-fixing in the auction house business. Now Simon, co-founder of Simon Property Group Inc., the nation's largest retail mall company, has honed in on the mall empire of Taubman Centers Inc., launching a $4 billion hostile takeover bid. Will Taubman's family be able to hold off Simon until the patriarch gets out of jail?

Lola Taubman sat silently between her parents in the crowded boxcar. They had been cramped on the train for days without food or water. The dignity of a toilet was reduced to a metal bucket. Taubman's mother, Zsenka Goldstein, didn't say a word for the entire journey. Miksa, her father, held her tightly and whispered, "They will never be able to take away your education." His words would ring through her ears at the worst moments, when she was exhausted, sick, starving, when she thought she wouldn't live another day. They could take her clothes, her health.

Lawsuit: Supermodel was stressed from crashWhy didn't the marriage of supermodel Christie Brinkley and Colorado real-estate man Richard Taubman last? Maybe ''post-traumatic stress syndrome'' was to blame, their lawyer says. Both Brinkley and Taubman were diagnosed and treated for it after a 1994 mountain helicopter crash, said James Crouse. The subject came up during a lawsuit by the couple and other passengers against the maker of some of the helicopter's parts. Crouse, arguing to keep records in the case secret, said he fears ''a media feeding frenzy'' if details are revealed.

Christie Brinkley is engaged to the millionaire developer she survived a helicopter crash with last April, a friend of the model confirmed Wednesday. Brinkley, the model for Billy Joel's song ''Uptown Girl,'' divorced Joel last month. She had minor injuries in the April 1 crash while on a heli-ski trip with developer Richard Taubman of Telluride, Colo. He was not hurt. Brinkley, 40, told USA Today she and Taubman became engaged only a couple of weeks after they met.

A federal judge ordered that the Simon Property Group be stripped of its control of the Mall of America in Minnesota, saying that the company breached its fiduciary duty to its Canadian partner by secretly arranging to gain an ownership interest in the mall. In his ruling, issued late Wednesday, Judge Paul A. Magnuson of U.S. District Court in Minneapolis ordered Simon to sell a 27.5 percent stake in the mall to its partner, Triple Five, a company owned by four brothers -- Raphael, Nader, Bahman and Eskander Ghermezian -- for $81.4 million.

Same-store sales were mixed in July, Orlando-based Darden Restaurant Inc. reported Monday. For the four weeks ended July 27, sales at Olive Garden units were up 4 percent to 5 percent, reflecting a 3 percent increase in guest counts and a 1 percent to 2 percent check-average increase. Sales at Red Lobster outlets were down about 6 percent, which reflected flat to 1 percent check-average increase and a 6 percent to 7 percent decrease in guest counts. Darden said the Independence Day holiday, which fell on a Friday, hurt sales at both chains by about 1 percent compared with the year-ago period.

NEW YORK -- Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the venerable auction house that has struggled through a bid-rigging scandal, sagging profits and the incarceration of its former chairman, A. Alfred Taubman, said Friday that it was no longer exploring a sale of the company or the Taubman family's controlling stake in it. The company's failed efforts to find a buyer were hampered by its financial difficulties and continuing legal questions, and it has scrambled to...

Pressure on the family and directors of A. Alfred Taubman's shopping mall empire appeared to intensify Monday when the two companies seeking to take it over said they had the support of 85 percent of the publicly traded shares in Taubman Centers. The Simon Property Group and Westfield America have offered to buy Taubman Centers for $20 a share, or $1.74 billion, but have issued an ultimatum that if fewer than two-thirds of the public shareholders do not tender their shares, they will abandon the effort.

The brawl at the mall is on. Escalating an already bitter feud, the Simon Property Group will announce today that it is going directly to shareholders of Taubman Centers with a sweetened takeover bid of $1.5 billion, bypassing the wishes of the company's board. Simon Property, the nation's largest shopping-mall owner and owner of Florida Mall, is also planning to file a lawsuit today against Taubman Centers, its board and members of the Taubman family, according to people briefed on the situation.

Mall magnate Mel Simon is living large on a wave of shopping mall real estate buyouts. Meanwhile, his longtime rival Alfred Taubman sits in a federal prison, convicted of price-fixing in the auction house business. Now Simon, co-founder of Simon Property Group Inc., the nation's largest retail mall company, has honed in on the mall empire of Taubman Centers Inc., launching a $4 billion hostile takeover bid. Will Taubman's family be able to hold off Simon until the patriarch gets out of jail?

MILDRED TAUBMAN, 85, 1700 Monroe Ave., Winter Park, died Friday. Born in New York, she moved to Orlando from there in 1967. She was a homemaker. She was a member of College Park Baptist Church. Survivors: stepmother, Gladys Beach, Rockledge; one grandson. Cox-Parker Carey Hand Guardian Chapel, Winter Park.

Mall developer Taubman Centers Inc. said Friday that the Taubman family has gained support from some nonfamily shareholders in its effort to fend off a hostile takeover bid by Simon Property Group Inc. The nonfamily investors have formally granted their votes to the Taubmans, giving the family more than one-third of the company's voting power. Any proposed buyout would require a two-thirds vote of all stockholders. Simon officials are contesting the Taubman family's controlling interest in the company.

The economy remains uncertain and the retail industry is bracing for a potentially slow holiday season. Maybe it's not the best time for a company to lay $4 billion on the table to acquire a rival. But mall giant Simon Property Group Inc. thinks it is. In Simon's view, the target of its recent hostile takeover bid -- Taubman Centers Inc. -- is prime for picking. Michigan-based Taubman has lost millions of dollars and its stock has languished since disgraced founder Alfred Taubman left the company last year to face a federal prison term for price-fixing as head of Sotheby's auction house.